On the first climb to La Berra, at 1717 meters above sea level the roof of the 79 km race from Fribourg to Bulle, it doesn't look like Näf will win yet. He is competing in the BerGiBike as a dress rehearsal for the Marathon World Championships in South Africa, which take place in a week's time. Lukas Buchli tries to break into the leading group with all the favorites by vehemently forcing the pace. And he succeeds. The man from Graubünden manages to pull away slightly, but always remains within sight of the first chasers Moritz Milatz and Jérémy Huguenin. Näf, Xavier Dafflon and Konny Looser follow a few seconds behind. But Buchli is once again out of luck. Another flat tire slows him down. On the descent from La Berra, he had to change the rear wheel and lost touch with the leading riders.

In the second half of the route, Milatz took the lead alone. He was followed by Näf and Huguenin, with Looser, Buchli and Dafflon already well behind. At Gibloux, the second notable obstacle, the maps were reshuffled once again. While Milatz maintained his top position, Näf was able to close the gap to the German champion. Lukas Buchli also turned up the heat again in the last 30 kilometers, while Looser and Dafflon dropped back. Näf finally crossed the finish line as the winner ahead of Milatz, Huguenin, Buchli, Dafflon and Looser.

"The long climbs don't really suit me. Last year I was left behind on La Berra. This time I just rode my rhythm and also had slightly heavier tires mounted for the rough descents. That paid off. I was even able to take the lead on the descent," explains Näf. Milatz and Huguenin closed the gap again after Näf's lead on the downhill and the game started all over again at Gibloux. "When it came to the last flat kilometers before the finish, I caught up with Milatz. We pulled away together - not that Huguenin might win the sprint," Näf explains and praises the course: "The many sigle trails and the fast descents were great fun. The view from La Berra was amazing." This double victory is the right preparation for the Marathon World Championships: "I hope that we can adopt the same team tactics in South Africa as we did on the BerGiBike," says Näf.

Moritz Milatz is not disappointed with his second place: "I rode a good race and always had reserves. However, I didn't ride on the last groove downhill because I didn't want to take any risks." Especially the final descent with the numerous hobby riders of the short distance was quite dangerous. In view of the upcoming long-distance world championships, he wanted to ride another marathon. He is very satisfied with the result, says Milatz.

Landtwing unrivaled
Milena Landtwing's biggest competition is her still tired legs from the Alpentour Trophy. Nevertheless, the former Swiss marathon champion beat second-placed Florence Darbellay by more than a quarter of an hour. "It was quite tough, I had a bit of a cramp as I hadn't fully recovered from the Alpentour Trophy," commented Milena Landtwing on her winning ride. Sarah Koba reached the finish line in third place. On the final climb, she was able to overtake Nadia Walker and relegate her to fourth place.

The organizers of the Frigaz-BerGiBike can look back on an all-round successful event. With 1465 people registered for the third Frigaz-BerGiBike, a new record number of participants was also set.www.bergibike.ch